It Shouldn't Be a Surprise...That one the list is short and two there are many players on the list who also play halfback. It shouldn't be a surprise because let's be honest, this is high school football - there isn't a ton of passing. Look at Pinkerton, Plymouth and Exeter, three of the top football programs in the state over the last 10 years. They almost never pass the football. Salem won D-I last season, and did so averaging less than 5 pass attempts per game. So if you're a playmaker you're probably running the ball for your team, and also being used occasionally when your coach decides to throw the ball. That's why this list is short, and many of the players on it are threats to not only catch the ball, but run it as well.

There Are Always Exceptions of CourseYes, it's true. There's not a lot of passing in high school football, especially in NH. And it's not like this is earth shattering news either, it's pretty well known. However there are 3 teams in particular who are bucking the trend. Nashua South, Pelham and Souhegan.

Souhegan: These guys had the best running back in the state last season. If any other team had a kid like Steven Jellison they would have handed him the ball 30-40 times a game. But the Sabers actually had one of the state's best passing attacks, with quarterback DJ Petropulos and wideouts Tyler Wing and Brendan McKenna.

Nashua South and Pelham: Only Pelham threw the ball more than the Purple Panthers a year ago. The thing that both South and Pelham have in common is that they both graduated star backs in 2009 (David Zocco for South and Bruce Veira for Pelham). Both teams were also returning QB's who led them to state titles in 2008 (Keith Farkas for South and Joe D'Angelo for Pelham). So I suppose it was simple for these coaches. You no longer have a star back to hand the ball off to. Your best returning player is the QB, so why not let him throw it?

As for the Players Themselves...The top 7 kids on this list have tremendous upside. Mike Kelly can flat out fly. I mentioned this in my article on the running backs, but it will be interesting to see how BG uses him this season. The same can be said for O'Gorman, Lane, McRae and Somers. The top "Pure wideouts" this year will be McKenna, Brown, Basora and Cheam. Let's take a closer look at them...

Brendan McKenna:McKenna left Souhegan's basketball team mid-season to focus on football. Not sure what exactly he was doing instead of basketball though. You would think it would be lifting, but the kid was already jacked early in the basketball season when he was still on the team. He was probably doing some speed training. Coach Heaney tells me that McKenna is being recruited pretty heavily by colleges for football though. The kid is extremely big at 6'4", extremely strong and has good speed. He's in an offense that likes to throw the football, and has a good QB to throw him the ball in Luks. McKenna should see plenty of passes come his way and should have a big year.

Junior Brown:This kid is a heck of an athlete. He's 6'2", so not as tall as McKenna and not as strong, but he is definitely faster and more athletic. He missed the first few games last season for Central, but as the season went on, Brown really came into his own as a receiver and developed good chemistry with QB and fellow sophomore Jared Chandler. Hard to believe him and Chandler are both just sophomores, especially with the way they both played in the Salem game last week of the regular season. That will be a VERY scary combination in 2011 when they're both seniors.

Nilsson Basora:One of the most athletic kids in NH, regardless of class, regardless of sport. I saw him make some very acrobatic grabs last year, turning his body around in mid-air or flipping around and still hauling it in. Despite playing in a pass-happy offense and with Farkas at QB, Basora didn't put up huge numbers though. One reason is because Farkas also had Nick Haskell and Armond McRae to throw to, the other reason was because he was inconsistent. McRae is still there, but Haskell is graduating. And Farkas will be a senior of course. So if Basora can be more consistent he will also have a big year.

Kevin CheamIt is true that they both played in lower divisions, but Cheam and Tate Jozokos from Kingswood had the two biggest seasons of any freshman in the state last year. Cheam should the ability to catch the ball in traffic and blazing speed in the open field. With the way this kid played as only a freshman last year, the sky is the limit for him if he keeps getting better. Last year Pelham had 2 excellent wideouts with Josh Luciano in addition to Cheam. Luciano is graduating, so you would think Cheam would get more opportunities. However the kid who made that whole offense go last year was QB Joe D'Angelo and he was a senior last year. Cheam could struggle unless someone steps up as D'Angelo's replacement under center. You could see more of a conservative offense this year for the Pythons.

12 comments:

Cheam only did good because he was in what division 5 with a good QB? Now moving to Div 3 with no quarter back i could easily see him droping out of top 10. Track is his sport with speed. Not anyother.

Agree with the Basora evaluation.. with the loss of Haskell and Fredrickson, he will need to have a big year..McRae will draw quite a bit of coverage with his threat to run or catch, which should allow Basora with his size and speed to be on the end of many Farkas passes... over coming consistancy issues will be key for him.

I think fahey will be cuipa's #1 target next year. That is just a guess, it is still up in the air as of now. Fahey would resemble at Lawrence and do what vailas did, play wideout until he's needed at qb the next year. Not saying he's vailas caliber, just that he would do the same thing

Agreed i dont see any one from pelham every being better than bruce vieira. Cheam is a very good player but vieira numbers as a freshmen blew cheam out the water. And vieira's play On D was unstopable over 400 tackles in four years. He plays for curry college as a RB Rumor has that he already is a captain as a sophmore

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About Me

I'm a local radio broadcaster and reporter who covers NH High School football and basketball for WGAM Friday Night Lights 900/1250 AM Nashua/Manchester and in the past for 1540 AM WXEX in Exeter and WTSN AM 1270 in Dover. I cover NH athletes as a correspondent for the New England Recruiting Report. I attended the University of New Hampshire where I broadcasted UNH football, basketball and hockey games for all four years and graduated with a degree in Communication and minor in Sport Studies.